John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged water · everything

www.self.com

Eco-Conscious Tips: 8 Habits to Start to Live More Eco-Consciously

The piece outlines eight practical daily habits individuals can adopt to reduce their environmental impact, including reducing food waste, avoiding single-use plastics, eating more plant-based meals, composting, buying secondhand clothes, researching eco-conscious brands, walking or biking instead of driving, and conserving water. While acknowledging that individual actions alone won't solve systemic environmental problems, it frames these changes as meaningful personal contributions that collectively matter. The article emphasizes that reducing consumption and reusing items are more effective than buying new "green" products, though it includes guidance on choosing sustainable brands when purchases are necessary.

Permalink sustainabilitywatertagsclimate

www.nytimes.com

The Best Gear for Your Go Bag

While preassembled emergency bags offer convenience, they typically contain low-quality items, limited customization options, and incomplete gear selections that create a false sense of security. The guide reviews six popular preassembled kits—from Judy, Uncharted Supply Company, American Red Cross, Echo-Sigma, Emergency Zone, and Preppi—finding that all fall short due to poor construction quality, inadequate first aid supplies, unreliable electronics, and minimal room for personalization. Building your own go bag from scratch, though time-intensive and costing around $550 initially, remains superior because it allows you to select durable, high-quality items tailored to your specific location and needs while maintaining the knowledge and familiarity with your supplies that matters in an actual emergency.

Permalink gearsafetywatersurvival

www.homedit.com

20 Garden Design Trends No One Mentions (Until Your Garden Feels Outdated)

Next year's garden design prioritizes structural materials—gravel, weathered steel, stone, timber, and water—over decorative accessories, creating spaces that feel naturally discovered rather than artificially composed. These elements handle the practical work of defining movement, boundaries, and seating while appearing effortless once installed, replacing rigid layouts with softer, more integrated designs. The trend reflects a shift toward gardens that balance beauty with function, permanence with simplicity, and visual calm with purposeful use.

Permalink sustainabilitylandscapingwaterhome

www.gearpatrol.com

Hai’s New Smart Showerhead Brings Spa-Level Water Pressure Home

Hai's new smart showerhead with aromatherapy infusions promises spa-like luxury for under $300, featuring improved water pressure, water usage tracking via a Bluetooth app, and dissolvable scent tablets in three varieties. While the showerhead itself performs excellently with strong pressure and a useful mist setting, the infusion tablets dissolve too quickly to deliver a meaningful scent experience and cost nearly $2 each, making them an expensive add-on that the reviewer suggests skipping in favor of the showerhead alone.

Permalink gearbathroomsmart homewater

mossandfog.com

A Number of Simple Ways to Make Your Home Healthier and More Sustainable | Moss and Fog

This article provides practical guidance for making homes healthier and more sustainable through incremental changes across multiple areas: improving indoor air quality by switching to non-toxic cleaners, increasing ventilation, and adding air-purifying plants; choosing eco-friendly materials like bamboo and low-VOC paints; reducing energy and water consumption through efficient appliances and smart fixtures; and adopting low-waste habits like composting and bulk buying. It emphasizes that meaningful change requires household-wide participation, with family members working together on green habits and mindful consumption practices rather than individuals acting alone.

Permalink healthsustainabilitycleaningwater

Freakonomics

The Strange Economics of Water, and Why It Shouldn’t Be Free: A Guest Post

Charles Fishman illustrates the paradox of water economics through the Cleveland Cavaliers' removal of drinking fountains to boost bottled water sales, showing that consumers pay thousands of times more for bottled water than tap water despite buying the same product. He argues that while bottled water succeeds by selling convenience and branding rather than the water itself, the real problem is that underpriced tap water creates no incentive for maintenance or conservation of critical infrastructure—the U.S. spends nearly as much annually on plastic bottles as on maintaining its entire water system. Fishman contends that water needs appropriate pricing to signal its value and fund the modernization of aging systems, not the false message of being free and unlimited.

Permalink advicewaterbusinesseconomics